Kingdom Hearts 3: Ending Sorrows
by Melodious-Nocturne3
Summary: Now that the Mark of Mastery Exam has been completed, the Keyblade Wielders must prepare for the coming conflict against the new Organization XIII. Except for one thing: the Wielders of Light do not have all 7 members. Time is running out for the side of Light as they search for the ones who came before, as well as any possible advantages. Featured ships mentioned in-story.
1. Prelude

**A/N:**

**Disclaimer - Kingdom Hearts and its content does not belong to me. It belongs to Square Enix, Disney, and whoever else holds a claim on it.**

**Credit to seventy2seconds on dA for the cover image.**

**WARNING, for those who really care about things like this: Featured ships are KairixSora, XionxRoxas, NaminexRoxas, and AquaxTerra, most of it either implied, platonic, and/or one-sided. Occasional ones might be ZackxAqua, slight NaminexVentus, and any others I mention later. (The only serious ship out of all of these is SoKai, because it is already canon and it needs the work.)  
**

**The following events are listed in chronological order.**

* * *

Thinking of you, wherever you are.

We pray for our sorrows to end

And hope that our hearts will blend.

Now I will step forward to realize this wish.

And who knows:

Starting a new journey may not be so hard

Or maybe it has already begun.

There are many worlds, but they share the same sky -

One sky, one destiny.

- Kairi's Letter

* * *

_The boy cloaked in black viciously fighting against her, swinging his gleaming Keyblade with determination, had resignation - and despair - etched in every movement and expression he made. (Could she so easily see this because she was feeling this herself?)_

_Three worlds ago, the spiky-haired blonde had been so reluctant in attacking her. He had held back, and let her beat him down into the ground. It was good that he had lost that feeling now. Roxas needed to strike back at her with everything he had._

_She was near her strength's end. Good. It was almost time. "Stop holding back!" She slashed downwards with her twin blades, crisscrossing the attack into an 'x' shape as the swords glowed with light._

_There was a ringing clang as Roxas blocked the strike and slid backwards several inches from the force of the giant blades. He almost sunk to one knee, breathing heavily. Shakily. Not good. She was beating him again._

_As if he could hear her thoughts, Roxas swung his Keyblade back defiantly, glaring up at her featureless face of a puppet with burning blue eyes. "Nice try!" He then activated his Limit Break._

_Keyblade transformed into a elongated sword of pure white radiance, he leapt up and slashed, over and over again, the speed causing his attacks to blur. The Keyblade continuously struck her armor-like body and she knew she was finished. Blackness filled her vision and she gladly let her monstrous self go limp in defeat._

**. . .  
**

_She seemed to stumble through a void of dark shadows as they sucked her consciousness away, blinking in dull surprise when it faded around her and revealed the Station Plaza below the clock tower. She wobbled in place for a second, unsure. Then she heard a voice speak and she tilted her head upwards as best as she could to see the speaker._

_"Who are you, again? It's weird... I feel like I'm forgetting something really important."_

_Oh. It was Roxas, clutching his head as if he had a terrible headache. Remembering all the other times he had had one, she smiled faintly. It was only to be expected. A memory floated up to the forefront of her mind, of Namine telling her that once she went back to Sora, no one would remember her anymore. Because her whole being was based off of memories that would disappear once they rejoined with Sora._

_"You'll be... better off now, Roxas."_

_She could feel her knees buckling as she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, feel her best friend catch her just before she hit the concrete. Her lower legs almost immediately went numb, and she could see them crystallizing out of the corner of her eyes. Bits and pieces that glowed and sparkled in the dying sunlight slowly floated up from her as she dissolved into the sky._

_"Am I the one who did this to you?"_

_Hearing the anguish in his voice, she shook her head in an attempt to console him. Her gloved hand, the left, reached up to his. The one that was holding her right shoulder._

_"No. It was my choice to go away now. Better that, then to do nothing, and let Xemnas have his way."_

_Not for the first time, a spark of anger lit inside her as she spoke the name of her ex-boss. He had ruined her life - their lives - and forced them three to split. But she continued._

_"I belong with Sora. And now, I am going back... to be with him. Roxas, I need you to do me a favor. All those hearts that I've captured - Kingdom Hearts... set them free."_

_She almost smiled again when she saw Roxas frown in confusion, looking like a little kid with his brow furrowed just so. It was so sad that this would be the last time she would ever get to see this, or his face really. It felt like a gaping hole widened in her chest, making it hard to breath. Maybe it was because she was about to disappear, but it felt painful. An empty kind of pain._

_"Kingdom Hearts... Free them?"_

_She nodded, as much as she could manage. The chilly numbness spread up to just below her waist and she knew her time was almost up._

_"It's too late... for me to undo my mistakes. But Roxas, you can't let Xemnas... have Kingdom Hearts. You can't."_

_Her breathing had become more ragged, more labored as time passed, and now it was a struggle to take in the next one._

_"Goodbye, Roxas. See you again. I'm glad... I got to meet you."_

_The top of the clock tower caught her eye and she focused on it for a moment, gazing regretfully. I guess we're never going to get to go on that beach trip._

_"Oh. And of course, Axel, too. You're both my best friends."_

_Once she had said this, she suddenly felt an urge to do something, anything, that might help Roxas remember her before she left. She reached up slowly and gently cupped his cheek with her gloved hand, feeling the pressure of his face as he unconsciously and slightly leaned against it at the touch. His befuddled expression betrayed surprised pleasure. Warmth flowed through her chest, easing the emptiness of it for a moment. She smiled at the feeling and wished she had done this beforehand, before everything went wrong._

_"Never forget. That's the truth."_

_She forced her tired lids to stay open for a moment longer, searching Roxas's face anxiously for any reaction even as her thoughts grew more faint, more sluggish. Finally, she could resist no longer and her eyes slowly closed, arm going limp and falling. As if from a distance, she could feel her hand suddenly jerk as it was caught by another and squeezed desperately._

_"No, Xion! Don't go! Who else will I eat ice cream with?"_

_As this, she just had to smile, even as she heard his voice break and felt the gleaming white crystal spread across the rest of her body. Roxas remembered. And ice cream was only ice cream. He should have realized by now that it was the people that mattered, not what they did together._

_Her now fully crystallized body dissolved into the sky, and Xion heard her best friend's quiet grief from far off before fading away to join Sora._

**. . .  
**

Roxas, inside Sora's heart, had discovered Xion's memories deep within. Now, after living through them, he was desperate to try and find the person himself.

_Xion, I wish I could see you again. Axel too. But for now, we'll have to depend on Sora to bring us back together. We have to._

* * *

He ran. He ran and ran and ran. Hiding amongst worlds, moving from place to place. For almost six years, trying to avoid that long razor-sharp sword.

He always knew it was time to leave if he found a black feather out exploring the world's outskirts, which was often.

He always wondered how he had gotten into this mess.

He always wished that he had known what had happened to that woman.

But then he sought refuge in a less-known world. And he met that man he met many years ago, except he was different in all ways. Something was wrong about him, but when he told him about where the woman was and that he could grant him the power to go there, he started listening. And he accepted. His growing strength, his growing craftiness, made him feel like he had fulfilled his childhood dream. But he felt something lurking behind that power. Something dark. And the longer he remained with them, the more control it took. It felt as if it was consuming his heart and replacing it with another. He was afraid of this.

He always fought it. Therefore, it was no wonder when he seemed to hang on to his own senses longer than the others.

He always wondered how he had gotten into this mess.

* * *

A young woman trudged slowly onward along a seemingly never-ending dark road that cut a path through a bottomless pit, its edges stretching beyond the dim horizon. She gazed around at the rocky protrusions surrounding the path, aglow with pulsing blue cracks. She turned her sight to up ahead, where she saw shadowy cliffs and more floating rocks to explore.

Aqua let out a long sigh, smiling ruefully. "What did you expect?" she asked herself, knowing exactly what she had expected. "You'll probably traverse much more of this place before you find any way out."

Smiling yet again as she realized that she had just talked to herself, Aqua continued onward, determined to return to the Realm of Light and rescue her friends. She gripped the stained-glass Wayfinder in her hand tightly.

"Ven, Terra. I promise I will find you both and make things right."

* * *

A girl wearing a plain white dress and sandals sat on a chair facing a table. The room and its furniture was all white and the walls were covered with rough crayon sketches of several different people and places. The girl was currently working on another drawing, black crayon scribbling in the finishing touches on the sketch pad balanced upon the tabletop. Soon, she finally set the crayon down onto the flat surface with a quiet click.

The drawing depicted three people standing in a row, with their backs facing towards the viewer. The girl on the far left was the very artist, facing towards the spiky-haired blonde in the middle. The boy had been drawn strangely, the right half of him cloaked in black while the left was dressed in mainly white and black with a jacket and slightly baggy pants. Ignoring her, he appeared to be facing the opposite direction, this time to the third person on the far right: a girl with short black hair and also cloaked in black.

This girl, for some reason, seemed to be avoiding her companions' eyes and hugging herself tightly. Bars of white metal separated each of them, as if they were all imprisoned and tortured by the sight of their friends so close, and yet so far away.

Namine gazed steadily at the sketch pad with a slight grimace. "Nobodies seem to always be alone," she mused sadly, flipping the page upwards to reveal an earlier completed drawing.

This one simply showed a boy remarkably alike to the one she had just drawn, dressed similarly to the other boy's left side. He appeared to be fast asleep and was sitting in a large white throne. Silvery white chains extended from the throne base to the white walls surrounding it and traveled up along them until they reached strange symbols with blocky hearts on the top and three spikes jutting out of its base, two of them horizontal.

"Soon," Namine murmured, with a genuine smile this time, "all of the connections will be made clear and old sorrows finally ended."

* * *

_- ? -_

_- ? -_

_The darkness... Where did it come from?_

**. . .  
**

_Darkness rules your heart. It gives me control. Muscle and sinew that once obeyed you now rebels against you. How you can remain here at all confounds the mind._

_It's still my heart. You think you can just come in and take over? I'm not going to sit by and let that happen._

_Hmph. Don't even entertain any notions of escaping me, boy. In the end, your heart will be engulfed by mine forever._

_Wrong. You're going to get shown the door, old man._

_As I recall, you couldn't even handle your own darkness. How then, will you triumph over mine?_

_Well, you'll find out soon enough._

_Oh, so that's how it is, is it? Someone else has set foot into your heart. Eraqus, you sly fox..._

_I'm not afraid of what the darkness holds now. Even if you do wrest control of my heart from me... even if you cast me into the deepest, darkest abyss, you will never sway me from the one cause that pushes me to keep on fighting. Whatever the cost, I'm ready to pay it._

_Brave words, to be sure. But I'm a patient man. We can take all the time we need to settle this little property dispute. However, know this; you are just one of many roads that I might choose to take. Trust me, I made certain of that._

**. . .  
**

Rusted, golden red armor creaked in protest as a metal gauntlet tightened its grip around a Keyblade embedded blade-first into the earth. As the suit of Keyblade Armor kneeled on the rocky ground as it had for years, it seemed to sense something. The helm tilted upwards and appeared to gaze at the sky.

It sensed change, much of it. The very Kingdom Hearts soon to be teetering on the edge. It knew that afterwards, the worlds would never be the same again. Whether for better or worse, the armor could not say.

And something else. Rejoining. Rebirth. Bits and pieces of a whole about to finally become one - as it should be - and for real this time.

There were many things broken up like this, the Lingering Sentiment knew all too well. And it could sense that each and every one of them would finally be picked up and pieced back together.

The heart. The body. The soul, or the mind.

Things that do not belong by themselves. And now, a trio of them would be the first to rejoin as one.

**. . . .**

_Aqua, Ven. Finally, I can set things right._

* * *

**A/N:**

**I am going to be honest with you readers: finishing this story is going to take a lot of motivation for me. I am not a natural storywriter, at least not in a multiple-chapter sense like this one is going to be. One-shots tend to be more my style. But inspiration struck one day (in the form of 'What if Xehanort lied about Terra?') and I decided to write this. All I need is the knowledge that there are people out there, at least a few of them, who like how I've started out and are waiting for the next update. In short, faithful readers, whether they've favorited this or not or even reviewed it only once for the rest of the story.**

**I already have the majority of the plot thought up and will soon start drafting. Let me know your thoughts on what I have so far, and if you would point out any errors I might have, that would be great! (Since it's not beta-ed)**

**~ Melody**


	2. A Tale of Sorrow and Regret

**A/N:**

**Disclaimer - Kingdom Hearts is not mine.**

* * *

_A golden light suffused what had just been a cloudy, dreary garden. There was no scenery anymore, just a golden yellow sky dotted with sparkling stars that went on forever._

_Himself, monstrous in his darkness, which took shape as a giant beast formed from the shadows within. His Guardian._

_Two Keyblades, one of Earth, one of Waves, rose into the golden air._

_"Light!"_

** . . .**

He woke up.

That was the best description he could come up for it. His mind had risen from what felt like deep, pitch black darkness and his eyes had opened to the sight of a barren wasteland through what seemed to be a helmet visor. What else could it be?

Startled to discover that he had no idea where he was - or rather, who he was - he started to rack his brain, searching for any memories or thoughts that could help him out in this predicament. His name came first.

_Terra._

Oh, so that's what it was. Terra. Like the earth. ... Strange. It felt to him like he had suffered endless teasing on his part because it was apparently supposed to be a girl's name. Whatever. He liked it, it suited him because of his strength and (admittedly) his stubbornness, and that was all that mattered. ... Interesting. Those were what his thoughts had been before this strange memory loss. At least when it came to his name.

He chuckled, hearing the sound echo within the confines of his metal helmet.

Continuing to riffle through what little there was left in his mind, Terra came across the image of a young boy. His eyes the color of a barely darkened sky and with a bright smile on his face, the boy's blonde hair was messy and stuck up to the right; as if it had been permanently windswept that way. Or maybe it was permanent bed-head. Personally, Terra had always wondered how Ven got it to stay up like that - hey, wait! He knew the boy's name.

_Ventus. Ven for short._

His personality had always been bubbly. Hyper. Extremely cheerful. Ven had always tried to look on the bright side of things, even when times got rough. But there was a point where even that had failed... If only Terra could remember. He tried to reach for more, but it kept slipping through his grasp.

Well, at least if he knew a person like that, then he knew there was bound to be more. Digging deeper into his buried memories for anything he could access, Terra reached the image of another person. She had short blue hair, the most outstanding feature of her appearance, and her eyes were blue as well, but of a different shade. They were the blue you would expect from the depths of the sea, a rich aqua blue, just like her name.

_Aqua._

She had been his fellow apprentice, training to be a Master like him. She was thoughtful, smart, and could be very devious when she wanted to be. Aqua excelled at magic, as much as Terra had excelled at physical strength. Even then, she was graceful in all of her movements, as if fighting was just a dance. She dodged using cartwheels, after all.

There was something special about this young woman. Terra had no idea what it could be. The fact that they had lived in the same castle for years with Master Eraqus until Ven had come into the picture? Maybe the fact that she was his equal in battle, that most of the time, their spars ended in ties. No... none of them came very close.

But at least he was succeeding. Gaining more of his memories like this could only be a good thing. Right?

* * *

There was a bright flash of light in the courtyard of the Mysterious Tower. As the blinding radiance faded away, a boy ('young man' soon to become a more accurate description) with spiky brown hair and cheerful blue eyes stood at its source. The giant golden key he wielded in his hand disappeared in a spray of glittering white sparks as he quickly strode forward to enter the tower and climb up its winding staircase two steps at a time.

"Hey, guys! I'm back!" Sora called out, reaching the top of the long series of steps. Before any reply could come, he burst into the first room he saw and lo and behold, he was finally lucky enough to have found Master Yen Sid's office on his first try.

Not that Sora was quite in the right state of mind to appreciate that small victory. He was too busy being surprised at the sight of Kairi standing in the room by Riku, showing off her new Keyblade to everyone inside; more specifically, the old Master sitting in front of her behind his desk.

His jaw threatened to drop open, even when Sora remembered that Kairi had been wielding a Keyblade during their struggle against Organization XIII and within their very own castle. But just what was she doing here? And how did she get it again?

Having heard his relatively noisy entrance, Riku and Kairi turned to look back at who had caused the disturbance. Master Yen Sid gazed at Sora from behind, a faint smile on his face. That was when he realized that he had failed at keeping his mouth closed in the end and hastily shut it.

"Careful, Sora, or you'll swallow bugs that way," Riku teased, chuckling a little.

The Keyblade Wielder shot an annoyed glare at him that clearly said 'Haha, so funny.' Just as obviously, though, Sora didn't really mean it and he quickly moved on to Kairi with a curious but confused look on his face.

She was shyly holding her Keyblade behind her back and just out of sight, giving him a small smile. "Hi, Sora," Kairi greeted, waving slightly with her free hand.

"Kairi!" he exclaimed, walking up to her. "What are you doing here? And why are you wielding a Keyblade? You're supposed to be back home, at Destiny Islands. Where it's safe."

"I wanted to be with you guys," she said, scowling at the last sentence. "Fighting beside you, instead of standing back like the helpless little princess trapped in a tower." Kairi unconsciously swung her Keyblade in defiance, allowing Sora to see it clearly for the first time. "It gets frustrating, you know, watching you two get hurt and me unable to protect you guys like you've all been doing with me. And when Riku came to me and offered that chance, how could I refuse?"

Her Keyblade was one of the most beautiful ones Sora had ever seen. The hilt guard curved gracefully, one side resembling a bright blue wave breaking against a shore while the other glittered like a sandy beach, curling around the shaft and transforming into a golden vine. The colors of the blade shaft were reminiscent of a sunset and after a couple feet of traveling, the vine reached a bouquet of colorful flowers ranging from orange to pink to purple, forming the teeth of the blade. A Paopu Fruit Keychain dangled from the hilt, connected by a length of red silk.

When Kairi noticed Sora peering curiously at her Keyblade, she took advantage of this and attempted to prolong his distracted state in order to change the subject. "You like it?" she asked with a smile, holding it up in front of him horizontally to give him a better view. "It's called _Destiny's Embrace_," she said.

Unfortunately, her attempt failed. "Yeah, but Kairi, you shouldn't be here," Sora said, turning his gaze away from the brightly colored Keyblade and onto her face. "It's going to be dangerous, what we're doing. And I don't want you to get involved. This threat is serious!" He had a concerned look on his face, though the only sign of him truly being uncomfortable was how he unconsciously bit his lip in an anxious manner.

"Ugh!" Kairi suddenly snapped and glared at him hard, almost making the boy quail from the sight of her expression. She was done being a quiet, stay-at-home girl. To do what was right, she would have to strike hard to get Sora to relent. "That's exactly why I have to do this! Destiny Islands is not going to be safe forever, and you know that. The people you're fighting now make Maleficent and the Heartless look like amateurs! They'll go for anything to weaken you." _Including me,_ she added in her head. "Better for me to learn this stuff now so I can make a difference than twiddle my thumbs back at home and getting killed" - _or held hostage, like usual,_ she thought bitterly - "because I couldn't fight back!" Kairi finally ended her ranting, breathing heavily from all of her shouting. She hadn't realized her voice had risen until it was too late.

Sora flinched, as if he couldn't bear the thought of Kairi's dead mangled body. "But..." he managed weakly, suddenly losing his strength.

"No buts! I am training to be a Keyblade Wielder whether you like it or not! I should've known you wouldn't understand." And with that last sentence, she stormed out of the room, her Keyblade disappearing in a burst of golden light and sparkles.

Riku whistled after a moment of dead silence, made even more oppressive by the sudden lack of arguing voices, and turned to a stunned Sora, who looked as if Kairi had slapped him in the face. "Wow, Sora. Sounds like you were doomed from the start. Sorry for the... disturbance, Master Yen Sid," he added, glancing back at him.

Sora's expression suddenly became even more horrified as he realized that he and Kairi had had a virtual shouting match (however short it may have been) in front of the old Master. "I'm so sorry, Master Yen Sid!"

**. . .  
**

Then came a long week of intense training in Twilight Town and in magical simulation rooms that would compress the time it took to train, allowing all of them to gain more strength and skill in a shorter amount of time. In the case of Riku (who was already a Master), research over Kingdom Hearts and its counterpart, the χ-blade, took up most of his time. Soon enough, Master Yen Sid called them all into his office for what he said was an important meeting.

Lea had come back from his visit to Radiant Garden several days ago and was now here attending the gathering. He was still clothed in his old Organization cloak and was leaning against a wall far off to the left of the entrance, arms crossed.

Riku, Kairi, and Sora stood in front of Master Yen Sid's desk, at attention. It was clear, by how Kairi refused to acknowledge Sora's presence and his awkwardness at the fact, that the previous argument had not been forgotten by a long shot.

King Mickey and his companions, Donald and Goofy, stood off to the right, waiting patiently for the old Master to begin.

Master Yen Sid's face was tilted downwards, eyes closed as if he was mulling something over. After a moment, he looked up at the three young Keyblade Wielders standing in front of him with a grim expression on his lined face. "Master Xehanort has returned, as we learned not too long ago, and has gathered eleven others to use as vessels for pieces of his heart."

The others within the room simply listened, the looks on their faces darkening at the topic.

"Sora was caught in their trap, and almost became their thirteenth vessel." At the mention of this, Sora deflated even more than he already was. "Master Xehanort would have succeeded in binding a piece of his heart to the young boy if not for the brave actions of Lea, the most recent Keyblade Wielder to join our ranks." Master Yen Sid nodded gravely to the right at Lea in recognition, who did the same. Turning back to face forward, the old Master continued.

"Now we must prepare for the coming conflict between the Seven of Light and the Thirteen of Darkness. Among us already are five. But this is not enough for the situation at hand. Master Xehanort would have undoubtedly been searching for a new thirteenth vessel during the past few weeks. We must find our remaining two Wielders of Light before he succeeds."

"But Master Yen Sid," Kairi broke in, a questioning look on her face. "Who are the last two Wielders?"

Donald glared at the young girl for her 'lack of respect' for the old Master and opened his yellow bill to scold her when King Mickey stepped forward, holding out a hand directly in front of the mage to signal him to remain silent. His bill snapped closed.

"Gosh, it's hard to think of where to begin," the mouse said, scratching his back of his head sheepishly. Glancing over at Master Yen Sid, who nodded consent, King Mickey began.

"Well, about eleven years ago, there were three Keyblade Wielders training under a Master named Eraqus. They lived in a world known as the Land of Departure. These three's names were Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. He was the youngest of the three, and not yet allowed to leave. Terra and Aqua, once they were strong enough, took their Mark of Mastery Exam. And that was where the trouble started."

The mouse's ears were now drooping in sadness from the somber mood he was in. Everyone else, if they had not decided to already, took the hint to remain silent and listened.

"Aqua succeeded in gaining the title of Master. But Terra had failed, because he had lost control of the darkness within him."

Riku cringed slightly, reminded of himself. Lea blurted out, asking, "Wait, Terra's a guy?" Everyone ignored him.

"Not too long after, Master Yen Sid alerted their teacher, Master Eraqus, to a new creature made from negativity instead of darkness, unlike the Heartless. They were called the Unversed."

King Mickey glanced at Master Yen Sid, who then waved his hand above his desk. A magical construct appeared, twitching and hunched over. It had jagged antenna and squinted red eyes, with an almost metallic blue body. Its face was pointed and shaped like a triangle and its arms and legs had nothing even remotely similar to hands and feet; just pointed ends.

All of the people unfamiliar with the Unversed leaned in to inspect it, Lea taking a few steps closer from his original position for a better view. He recognized the creature, though, and gritted his teeth at the unpleasant memories surfacing. After they were finished, Master Yen Sid banished the magical construct and King Mickey continued.

"Master Eraqus commanded Terra and Aqua to visit each world and destroy the Unversed. Terra left immediately, spurred on by other news that Master Xehanort, respected back then and friend of Master Eraqus, was missing. Master Eraqus then told Aqua to watch Terra for any more signs of the darkness within him, and to bring him back if he began to fall to it. Right after that command, she saw Ventus hurry outside and Aqua quickly followed, only to see Terra leave and Ventus right behind him. Ventus was not supposed to leave their world, so Master Eraqus gave Aqua another job to do; bring Ventus back home, where it was safe for him."

"Each of the three traveled to different worlds, destroying the Unversed and each trying to find the others. Along the way, they encountered a mysterious, helmeted boy called Vanitas -"

At this, Sora suddenly flinched, then looked confused. Everyone else except Master Yen Sid was listening too intently to notice.

"- who was soon revealed to be the creator of the Unversed. His heart was pure darkness, and the Unversed were his negative emotions."

"But Your Majesty," Riku interrupted with a frown, brow furrowed. "Don't all hearts have both darkness and light, except for the Princesses of Heart?"

King Mickey nodded, too serious at the moment to correct the title his friend addressed him by. After considering his answer for a moment, the mouse replied, "Well, yes, normally they do. But Vanitas was different, in a way. He was half of a heart, the part of darkness that was forcefully taken out and took shape as him."

Lea frowned, old memories of his time in Radiant Garden before its destruction dredged up by this talk, especially one memory of a boy who looked surprisingly like Roxas. He had a feeling this familiarity was why he had first become friends with that zombie in the first place. Lea then spoke for the first time since several minutes. (A first.) "But then who was the other half?" he asked suspiciously.

"Ventus."

Sora gritted his teeth at this horrible treatment of a heart, while Kairi gasped in surprise and Riku simply scowled.

King Mickey nodded sadly. "You see, Ventus had been Master Xehanort's apprentice before being passed on to Master Eraqus. None of us are sure of what happened during his time with him, but his heart had been separated into two parts, one of pure darkness, and one of pure light. It took a while for Ventus to recover fully from the separation, but when he did, he seemed no worse for wear. He had lost his memories of his apprenticeship with Master Xehanort."

"But soon enough, he encountered the old Master during his search for Terra and regained his memories of what had happened. After Master Xehanort told Ventus that Master Eraqus had been keeping him in the Land of Departure as imprisonment, that he was afraid of what might happen if Ventus created the χ-blade, he returned home angry and revealed that he knew the truth to Master Eraqus."

"His master, saddened that Master Xehanort was succeeding in his plan, decided to destroy Ventus for the good of the worlds."

"What?!" everyone exclaimed, except those who already knew of these events.

"But -" Sora sputtered, "- but that's stupid! 'For the good of the worlds'? I can understand that, but ending a person's life? There must have been a better way."

"I'm not that sure there was," King Mickey said gloomily. "But in the end, Ventus wasn't destroyed. Terra arrived just in time and opened a portal, pushing him inside to save him. He and his Master then fought, Terra using the powers of darkness to defeat him. Afterwards, he realized his mistake and tried to apologize to Master Eraqus, who was now injured and weak. But almost immediately, Master Xehanort appeared and destroyed Terra's Master and then the Land of Departure, giving him the message to go to the Keyblade Graveyard for the final battle."

King Mickey's large mouse ears drooped even further and even Master Yen Sid bowed his head slightly, the grim look still on his face. There was a moment of silence before the small mouse who was a king continued.

"We were all devastated when Master Yen Sid discovered Master Eraqus's death. Aqua was with us at the time, and she had been horrified when she found out that Terra's actions had helped lead to her Master's death. She immediately left for the Keyblade Graveyard. After talking for a while, I decided to head for the Keyblade Graveyard too and I tried to help. But there was a huge explosion that blasted us off of the world, and I found Aqua and Ventus when I had returned, both in their armor and unconscious. They were floating in the Lanes Between and I brought them back here."

Sora opened his mouth to ask what would undoubtedly be a barrage of questions when Riku held up a hand and gave him a meaningful glance, signaling to him to be quiet. He knew that King Mickey was not quite finished and apparently, Sora got the hint too. He shut his mouth.

"Aqua woke up a little bit later, but Ventus remained asleep. His heart had left, gone to someplace else. And since his heart was pure light, his body didn't disappear and we knew his heart hadn't become a Heartless. Once Aqua learned this, she took her friend and left the Tower. That was the last time we ever saw her. And we don't know where she put Ventus."

"Now eleven years have gone by, and there's been no sign of them."

King Mickey sighed in resignation and stepped back to his original position, the tale finally told. He looked towards Master Yen Sid, who nodded at the little mouse and turned to face towards the three young Keyblade Wielders in front of him.

"Are there any questions to be asked?" the old Master spoke, his hands resting in his lap.

Riku stepped forward. "Master Yen Sid, just what are the Lanes Between? I've never heard of them before."

"Me neither," Sora added.

"Hmm." Master Yen Sid rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The Lanes Between are pathways linking each world. Keyblade Wielders in the past could use these pathways to traverse between each world, much like using a Gummi Ship. And much like the Corridors of Darkness, they made for quick travel but the presence of Darkness within them was too strong to venture into often without protection."

Sora frowned. "But if that's true, then how could they use them? Did they have stuff like Axel's cloak?"

Lea muttered something under his breath grumpily.

"And that is where we arrive at the reason you are all here," Master Yen Sid replied. Closing his eyes for a moment as if to think, he soon opened them again and began to speak.

"Using the Gummi Ships as a mode of travel will be extraordinarily inconvenient for our preparations. Because of this, King Mickey and I have decided to give you an important mission. You must each locate specific Tokens in other worlds and then bring them back here. The Keyblade will know where you need to go." The old Master turned to look at Sora. "I understand that you were going to embark on a journey of training. Consider this it."

Sora smiled at his words and nodded respectfully.

"But Master Yen Sid," Kairi interrupted, prompting Donald to give her another glare. She ignored the duck. "How will we know what the Tokens are? And which ones will we need to gather anyway?"

"Usually, Keyblade Wielders must acquire seven Tokens of Joy, Sorrow, Rage, Confusion, Determination, Faith, and Disgust," the old Master replied. "However, we are very much pressed for time, so you will only need to retrieve the final two. They are the most important of the seven Tokens and the only ones that are truly required for what we must do."

After a few moments of thoughtful silence, Riku spoke up. "But what is it we need them for?"

"All in due time, Master Riku," Master Yen Sid assured him. "You will understand once you return."

* * *

_Hey, Master Xehanort. What do you think about these little kiddies getting some Keyblade Armor?_

_Be quiet, Braig. No one appreciates your insolence, much less Master Xehanort._

_Well, I'll have you know -_

_Settle down, settle down. To answer your question, Braig, I am rather curious as to whether these three children will succeed. Gaining the armor will allow them to find their remaining two Lights and set off another Keyblade War, while the lack of it will allow us to quickly take the seven Princesses of Heart. Either way, we will win in the end.  
_

_But what about the girl with them - Kairi? She is a Princess, and yet she has the ability to wield the Keyblade._

_Ah, yes. That rebellious young Princess. No matter. She has only just begun her training. She is no match for any one of us, much less than three. And once all thirteen of us gather, the Princess will fall along with her companions of Light and help us create the __χ-blade._

(There was a grunt.)_ I don't know about you, Mister Master, but I'd be more scared of that bunch if I were you. Remember what happened last time? And there were only three of them._

_I am not underestimating them, Braig. On the contrary; you see, we have an advantage._

_An advantage? Psh. As if. I'll believe it when I see it._

_Go. Make obtaining the Tokens for them much more... Eventful.  
_

_Ha ha, now you're speaking my language._

_Of course, Master Xeh-_

(There was a grunt and the noise of discord. The clanging of metal against metal.)

_Let him go, scar-face. It's not like he's been any help so far._

(The sounds of scuffling and swords clashing ended at these words - after a moment of hesitation. The source of the conflict then seemed to disappear.)

_You do not order me, Braig._

_Heh. I'd like to see a day when that was true._

_Do you understand now, Braig? The battle began long ago, over a decade, but only now has the climax truly been reached. Our little escapee has made sure of it. And therein lies our advantage._

* * *

**A/N:**

**Congratulations. You just got past the first real chapter. *claps in applause* I commend you for being able to suffer all the way through my writing.**

**Have fun. Be surprised. Be outraged. Be sad. Be joyful.**

**~ Melody**


	3. Worlds Apart From Each Other

**A/N:**

**Disclaimer - Kingdom Hearts is not mine.**

**(Note - I edited the previous chapters awhile back when I was trying to research. I changed up some extremely important stuff, so I recommend you reread them. (I know, I know, changing the original plot? *gasp* Yeah, that's kind of what happens when you read over them again and again and again and think. u-u; ))**

* * *

Terra slowly stood, hearing his golden red armor creak in protest. Many years of remaining in the Keyblade Graveyard, kneeling as it grasped its Keyblade, exposed it to the wind and rain of this desolate graveyard. Even with the magical properties the armor held, the metal had begun to rust and age over the decade, the once bright metallic colors fading. It was time to renew it.

As if on a long-ago formed instinct, Terra raised his hand and, clenching it into a fist, slammed it against the left shoulder piece of his armor. If anyone had been watching nearby, they would have been momentarily blinded by a bright glow of golden-white light.

It soon faded away, revealing a tall young man wearing a skintight grey shirt crisscrossed with red straps, along with tan hakama and a grey belt with a gold symbol pinned on as the centerpiece. He was armor-less, only a golden red pauldron and a few pieces below it remaining on his left shoulder and arm. A slight breeze filled with dust and the strange feeling of sorrow and loss blew from behind him, causing his hair to flutter in the wind.

With a flash, Terra snatched a stray lock of his hair, eyes widened with a horror he didn't know the reason for having.

His hair was silver. A light, greyish silver that contrasted with his tanned skin and the memory of having brown hair.

Terra's hand fell limply to his side as he collapsed to his knees, staring at the dirt beneath him. His breathing became heavy and labored as one name, accompanied with a vision and a deep, drawling voice, surfaced from the depths of his scattered memories and shattering his original thoughts with unbearable pain. He screamed.

_Master Xehanort._

The sight of himself standing below a glowing blue moon, shaped like a heart. But his hair was silver, like it was now, and the eyes he knew were supposed to be a deep cobalt blue were a bright amber orange instead.

_"This heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it. It grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came."_

Another flash, this time an image of that same not-Terra strangling Aqua in a shadowy garden, the sky cloudy and looking ready to burst into rain.

_"Terra's heart has been extinguished... smothered by the darkness within him!"_

Terra clutched his chest with his free hand, eyes wide in shock at the pain of emptiness in his chest. _What is this? It felt like I was... about to surrender to this darkness. It seemed inevitable. But then I remembered... something. Something. A p... pr... a promise?_

He gritted his teeth, enduring the hurt until it slowly seeped away.

Finally, he stood again, and slowly looked across the horizon of the Keyblade Graveyard with a determined expression on his face. He needed to find the others. Aqua and Ventus. First, he had to make sure they were okay. The vision of himself holding Aqua up by the throat continued to linger in his mind. Then he could ask them what had happened. They would know. They could tell him everything.

And with luck, Terra meeting them again might unlock his memories anyway, and his friends wouldn't need to explain to him the story.

Needing comfort from the strange and disturbing memories that had just returned, he reflexively reached into one of his pockets and found a strange object within it. Pulling it out, he found it was a star-shaped charm made out of stained orange glass tipped with yellow and edged with silver steel. A brown cord dangled from the top point. In the center was a silver token, shaped like the same badge on his belt.

_The symbol of the Mark of Mastery, what each of them had dreamed of obtaining for real. And so Aqua had used it as a token for their Wayfinder._

Terra tightened his fingers around the Wayfinder, squeezing his eyes shut as he listened to another voice in his mind, quiet this time and and familiar to him. It brought to him memories of star-filled night skies and streaking white meteors shooting across the pitch-black darkness. He could almost sense two others standing right beside him, feel the warmth of their smiles. He missed that feeling.

_"Somewhere out there, there's this tree with star-shaped fruit. And the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You will always find your way back to each other."_

And he knew in his heart somehow that his friends would have never lost their Wayfinders for anything. If they had, they would most likely be dead or worse. A hunch told Terra that he had ended up like the latter. But he hoped Ven and Aqua hadn't suffered anything similar.

"Aqua," Terra murmured, opening his eyes again to look ahead at what he somehow knew was going to be a long, painful journey. "I hope you're right."

**. . .**

In the night sky - visible from a crooked tower - an orange star began to brighten again. Its companions, a blue and green one, flashed once as if in joy before returning to their original dim luminance.

* * *

Sora sighed, leaning back against his bed's backboard as he rested in his room. He and the others had been living at Master Yen Sid's Tower for almost another week after the last meeting, since they all believed they needed more training and stuff before heading out into another excitement-filled adventure (Sora thought this in sarcasm). So the old wizard had conjured more rooms for the returning trainees.

He glanced out the window beside him. Unfortunately, the Mysterious Tower had a sky of deep twilight, and not even the nice kind like at the adjoining world of Twilight Town. The sky here was mostly pitch black, the scene of a sunset right before it became pure night. The only good thing was that the stars were visible and looked just like the sky back home. A couple of them winked at him merrily, sparking a faint and blurry memory.

"I wonder if..." Sora's voice then faded away as he realized that he had lost his train of thought. "Oh. I forgot," he said to himself.

_No problem,_ his brain replied. _I'm sure it'll come back to you._

"Hopefully," he said back. "I don't want to find out I'm getting old too soon."

_Yep. You're not that mature yet._

"... Wait. I'm talking to myself. Isn't that not a good sign of my mental health?"

His brain paused for a moment. _You're just lonely,_ it eventually replied.

Sora sighed again as he realized that his brain was right. Riku was busy with his new Master duties, Kairi was still mad about their last argument, and Axel (he knew his name was Lea, but he always forgot to call him that) was avoiding him for some reason. He had figured it was probably because of Roxas. After all, Sora had absorbed him. Everyone else may have said that they were the same person, but he knew for a fact that they weren't. Almost as different as light and darkness. A somebody and a nobody.

He knew another reason he might be lonely; over the past adventures he had experienced, Sora had matured quite a bit. He wasn't the clueless fifteen-year-old who had no idea how to pilot a Gummi Ship anymore. Having to conquer the Heartless Ansem and being forced to leave all of his friends behind for yet another seemingly pointless adventure had mostly taken care of that part of him.

(Another part that had influenced him, though his mind did not remember, was his experiences at Castle Oblivion.)

And neither was he the kid who had been proud of his own ability up to the point of arrogance. The kid who threw himself at hordes of Nobodies, the kid who had tried to single-handedly take care of everything when he had friends there to help him. Witnessing Axel's demise for a friend who wasn't even him had sobered him up and killed the majority of his unhealthy optimism. Riku throwing himself at Xemnas both to block a potentially fatal hit while buying a few vital seconds for a finishing blow had humbled him.

It made him realize how much people believed in him, how much people had faith in him to get the job done. And yet, everything Sora had done - _everything_ - only succeeded because he had friends there with him, through thick and thin, weathering the storm.

He had constantly gotten into trouble, annoyed people to the point of making them shout and scream, even losing faith in his mission, but they always saved him. The people didn't even have to be his friends. Every once in a while, they were enemies. Sometime just plain people, people who were connected to his heart, managed to do as much, if not more, than the Keybearer himself - chosen to open the door to Light.

It made him see his limits and realize one thing: he had never been alone in his journey. He wasn't _all that_. Help was sorely needed. It was like one of those old Organization cronies had said - what was his name? X... Xi... Xigbar, that's right.

_I feel sorry for the Keyblade, seeing it used like that... The Keyblade has far more potential than you're capable of drawing out as you are now._

Who knew that the one to dispense some of the best advice to him was supposed to be his enemy? He felt like scoffing at his luck. But either way, Xigbar had somehow known what Sora was missing.

"At least it's all been straightened out now," he spoke aloud. And it was. At least, he hoped it was going to be. Gaining all of this newfound wisdom had introduced a large amount of something he had never really experienced before: self-doubt. Because now, Sora was going to be alone. And he was going to be for the rest of this journey.

(And after what had happened at the dream-version of The World That Never Was, it only got worse. Sora had hidden these slowly increasing feelings when he had woken up. He had to keep up his optimistic demeanor for the sake of his friends.)

Donald and Goofy had made the choice to remain at Disney Castle for most of it this time, in order to help out the King. Of course, they were reluctant about it, but he had supported their decision. After all, they had families to worry about. Donald had Daisy and his nephews, and Goofy had a son named Max - Sora never even knew he had married, much less had a kid. And of course, His Majesty, King Mickey, was married to Queen Minnie. Who knew how much emotional torture she had gone through whenever her husband was off doing something dangerous while having to rule over the kingdom in his place? Truthfully, Sora had no idea how she remained so calm and controlled instead of losing it over her husband's constant disappearances.

His friends, who had risked their lives for him time and time again, had _families_ to go back to. Children. They had more at stake than he ever had. And yet they kept following him and believing that he was doing the right things, that he was strong enough to protect them in return for their protection of him.

Sora had been rendered speechless when he found about this. What if he had done something wrong? What if he had failed and one of them had died? Daisy or Max or Queen Minnie would open the door, expecting their boyfriend or father or husband or something other than death only to find a crying young boy with spiky brown hair instead of the one they loved.

And the self-doubt returned again, stronger than ever.

Not like the hopelessness he had suffered at Hollow Bastion - _Radiant Garden now, dummy,_ Sora chided - but more like he wasn't sure whether he was up to the task at hand. Whether he had the strength to do his duty by himself. Was he really powerful enough? Could he really handle fighting against people with crafty minds and hearts of pure darkness? If there was thirteen of those guys and only seven of them, would he be able to handle fighting two at a time? Three? Four? Possibly more? What if someone died? What if Riku died, Kairi, because he hadn't be strong enough?

Those were the kind of thoughts that popped up in his head everyday, every time he failed at defeating a simulation or if he lost a training duel with Riku. Sora just wasn't convinced of his own strength anymore, especially if he was by himself.

At the same time, he was afraid of confessing this new feeling. He wasn't sure if it was true, but Sora thought that if he told everyone about it, they would cut him off from the mission. It wasn't that they would believe his self-doubts, he knew. It was that he would then on be a weak point. An iron chain is only as strong as its weakest link, after all. And he, despite these thoughts, wanted to keep on fighting the good fight.

Maybe then, if they won, he would gain some confidence back. Hopefully.

_Please, Kairi, I'm really trying my best. I'm sorry I took out some of my frustration on you when I saw you here. I just wasn't sure if... if I had the strength to protect you anymore. And now you're here, about to place yourself into danger right when I might not have what it takes. Please..._

Sora stared out the window with distant eyes. The bright stars continued to glimmer as if nothing was wrong in the worlds.

_I wonder if you can see meteor showers from here._

* * *

Riku swung up _Way to the Dawn_ at the last second, blocking an overhand strike with a loud clang of metal against metal. He then struck back, Keyblade flickering away from the flowery one and stopping right over his opponent's heart. He pulled back after seeing that his point was made, a swirl of shadows in his hand the only sign of his Keyblade's dismissal. "Good, Kairi," Riku said with a smile, barely breaking a sweat. "Your offense is getting a bit stronger. I had to hold my blade up with two hands this time."

"If you say so," Kairi panted a bit proudly. She was in a worse state than her childhood friend. Her dark red hair lay limp against her head from the constant training and her breaths came out ragged and tired. Her clothing was smeared with traces of dirt and ash from the occasional magic spell.

Back when she had first arrived at the crooked tower, Kairi had been sent to visit the three fairies - Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. They had doted on her outfit for several minutes before discussing among themselves quietly on what color "it" should be. At the time, she hadn't known that she had stopped by the fairies' room to get new clothes, so it came as a shock when they had finished talking and then blasted her with sparkles from their wands. The new clothes on her had surprised Kairi.

She now had a slightly shorter version of her original dress while wearing black leggings and light violet combat boots that rose up to mid-calf with white laces. Her small notebook bag that had been belted on her waist was gone now, replaced with a thicker belt pouch threaded with lavender that looked more like it was for containing many small necessities for casual traveling. Kairi was also wearing a pair of fingerless gloves that fitted perfectly on her palms. But as she had felt the fabric in curiosity, she noticed that it was tougher than it looked. Other minute differences were scattered about her new - and apparently enchanted - clothes, but those were the main ones. That was when she had realized that the change was so battle and constant travel was more convenient.

"Of course, your defense obviously needs to get better with it," Riku added, done with the ego-stroking. "Did you see how I took advantage of your hesitation? What you need to do is -"

"Can't we work on magic instead?" she interrupted pleadingly. Physical combat was such hard work for her. "You've seen how I'm a natural at it."

Riku hesitated. It was true that Kairi was surprisingly good at magic. With the heart of pure light she had, Kairi had much more energy she could use for the casting than anyone he had ever met, including Maleficent. And she just seemed to have a talent for it. But it wasn't like magic was going to help her too much when the opponent was in close quarters and she was possibly out of magical energy. He explained this to her.

She pressed her lips together tightly. "Yes, I know that makes sense. But what are the odds of that happening?" Kairi asked, before hurriedly rephrasing it. "I mean, I know that close quarters is obviously going to happen, but what about the "running out of energy" part? You know it's seemed like I've had infinite energy so far. We haven't even tested it yet."

"True, I guess," Riku admitted. "But either way, we need you to practice your physical combat too. Lacking skill there could be dangerous."

They fell into a thoughtful silence as they tried to think up a compromise. Riku and Kairi were just like that. They never really got mad at each other or even had a real argument. At least, not for years.

Kairi would have thought the same for Sora two weeks ago - especially since they had both been crushing on each other for a while. But now... she wasn't very sure if they really were a good pair. Life on the Islands was a bit isolated. Though there were plenty of boys there to "choose from", it was still easy to believe that someone was your soul mate if you had been friends since childhood.

Seeing the crudely scratched-in drawing of him giving her a Paopu Fruit had touched her heart, remembering all of those times when she had snuck into the Secret Place to try and see what Sora was working on. He had always freaked out and blocked Kairi's sight. Even now, she had to hold back a smile.

But recently, they had begun to start drifting apart. They still liked each other in that way and sometimes enjoyed hanging out by themselves when they had returned to the Islands together, but Kairi had soon started to notice something.

_Sora had changed._

**. . .**

Back then, before all of this had started, Sora had been outgoing as anyone else, sometimes even more so. He took dares all of the time, laughed at almost everything, and he had been so sweet sometimes. She or Riku would tease him over something usually pretty minor and he would blush this bright crimson red that only encouraged them to keep on going. In short, Sora had been this very likable young boy that Kairi eventually saw as _lovable_.

In the beginning, Riku had tried to catch her attention a lot too. He could be awesome to hang out with sometimes, but it was always Sora that she really had fun with. He gave her that sense of adventure she found enjoyable without being a "bad boy" or getting them into too much trouble. Even her foster father, the mayor of Destiny Islands, approved of him. He really did seem perfect for her.

But then the Islands had been destroyed, starting a whole mess that had eventually been resolved at Hollow Bastion before escalating again. They had been separated, Kairi left alone on their newly restored home while her friends had gone off on more adventures. A year passed before she finally got tired of waiting and sent a letter in hopes of reminding Sora about his promise. And as if the worlds had been listening to her pleas, Axel arrived and attempted to kidnap her. Kairi escaped, arrived at Twilight Town, and then was successfully captured by Axel this time.

Only a few minutes later, they had gotten ambushed by Saix and she had been taken again. By then, Kairi had been thoroughly tired of being tossed left and right like she was just some kind of toy everyone tried to steal. Thrown into a both physically and magically reenforced prison cell against her will, she had managed to escape by way of her Nobody, Namine.

She was reunited with Sora and Riku, got a real weapon of her own, and actually got to help fight for once. She had been so happy.

After the conflict was over, there was a scary few hours when the Corridor behind her had closed, trapping Sora and Riku. Kairi and the rest of them had watched on the beach, both extremely worried and impatient. Then the two suddenly fell from the sky and splashed into the sea. (That moment would have been ridiculous had she not been so relieved.) She still remembered the huge smile on her face.

The three were finally back home together again. But, inevitably, everything - and everyone - was different this time.

Riku was quieter, more solemn. He tended to be more solitary than he used to be and his teases were sometimes a bit muted to the point where it wasn't funny. He also acted much more serious than before and stopped joking around as much. Another big difference? Riku started having a frown on his face more often than not. Back then, regardless of the events, he almost always had at least a small smile. But not anymore. It was harder to cheer him up now.

Sora... was not the boy she had fallen in love with almost two years ago.

He was still more optimistic in general than Riku, but other than that, he had changed the same way. When Tidus had challenged him to a sparring match a while after he came back home, the island boy had lost completely, no contest. But that wasn't the part that had bothered Kairi. Instead of boasting joyously and crowing about his victory all over the Islands like he would have done not too long ago, Sora just helped Tidus up and recommended more practice. That was it.

And one time, Wakka dared him to jump straight down from the tallest palm tree onto the beach, claiming that he couldn't possibly get hurt from the soft mounds of sand. Even though Kairi knew that the old Sora would have done it eagerly and without hesitation, this new Sora thought about it for a few seconds as if he was actually thinking about the possible risks before doing so. Despite the smile in his face when he had landed and when he sprayed everyone with sand by shaking his hair like a dog, she knew that he was acting different, even if Wakka hadn't seemed to notice.

Those events specifically didn't bother Kairi too much. But there were so many little incidents that added up together in her mind, no matter how hard she tried to forget them. Especially one thing that would never leave her mind for more than a day: he hadn't confessed.

Kairi had never heard those few words that would have brightened her day exponentially, and possibly the rest of her life.

_I love you._

She knew just how smitten they were with each other. And the problem was that Sora never told her so. They had still hung out together even after the discovery that things had changed, but there was almost always this awkward silence once they had run out of words to say. Kairi knew somehow, with that strange intuition all women had, that her mentioning anything about it wouldn't turn out to be a good thing. So she had waited. And waited. And waited as always.

Sora never mentioned a thing.

In fact, he seemed to sense after a while that there was something she expected from him that he wasn't giving and began to avoid her. He would give excuses, hide out in a secluded corner of the Islands, everything. And when he couldn't get away from her, the tension between them had been palpable.

The only time when Sora ever acted like the guy Kairi knew and loved was when he had discovered the bottled letter the King had sent. In an effort to keep this Sora around, Kairi had acted interested and happy for him. Even though the contents of the letter only managed to bring her spirits down.

They were going on another adventure. And leaving her behind _again_.

Sometimes, she wondered why she had said yes.

When Riku had come back for her, though, and said that Master Yen Sid, an old and wise wizard, had requested for her to be brought, she knew in her heart that she would finally get to take action.

No way was Kairi going to stay home like a fragile little doll again. Not when she could defend herself this time.

**. . .**

"Hey, what's up, guys?"

Kairi blinked, snapped out of her thoughts, and looked up to see a familiar spiky red-head cloaked in black. "Oh. Hey, Ax-"

"Whoa, whoa there!" he interrupted, waggling a finger at her. "Haven't you gotten it memorized already? I'm _Lea_. Completely complete guy and not a Princess-kidnapping Nobody this time." A crooked smirk appeared on his face as he mentioned the kidnapping part.

She rolled her eyes. "Right, right. Well then, _Lea_," - Kairi emphasized the name - "what are you doing here?"

"Yes, what are you doing here, Lea?" Riku asked. His eyebrows were raised questioningly. "Weren't you assigned to practice in the compressed simulation rooms?"

Lea blew it off, waving a hand impatiently. "Meh. That gets really boring after a while, you know. Sure, the old man conjured it all up himself, but the enemies eventually get repetitive. Same old strategies, same old monsters, etcetera. Nothing like fighting real stuff that can think for itself." He grinned. "I got a lot of that as a Nobody. Official assassin and all."

Riku grunted. Having been around guys almost her whole life, Kairi recognized the grunt as a noise equivalent of an eye roll. "Right. Like that "practice" at Castle Oblivion?"

Kairi had never heard about this topic before. Sure, some of them had alluded to it occasionally, but no details had been brought up in her presence. Even more confusing, Sora hadn't ever said anything about it at all, even though she was sure the few she had overheard before had mentioned his involvement in the events at Castle Oblivion. As a result, she raised an eyebrow in curiosity and listened closer. Maybe she would get some more hints at what had happened. After all, based on her guesses, these incidents had occurred right before - if not during - the time she had almost forgotten about Sora's existence. If she was right, something strange had gone on there.

Unfortunately, Kairi was to be disappointed. Apparently, the others were all involved in this ridiculous scheme, because Lea glanced at her for a second before replying again vaguely. "Exactly. Those old loonies were mostly weak, sure, but at least they were smart."

Kairi pouted, crossing her arms. She was sorely tempted to just blurt out her thoughts of where they could shove their secrets up to, but her upbringing as a mayor's daughter - despite being adopted - helped her rein in her temper. Instead she interrupted, "So you're here to practice with us." It was not a question.

"Correct, Princess," Lea announced, pointing at her dramatically. "Maybe you should try out for one of those guessing shows. You just need to answer in questions."

"Uh huh." Kairi frowned, trying to detect any possible sarcasm in the cloaked man's sentence. She couldn't find any, but she could never be sure with him. "Anyway, practice?" she prompted.

"Right," Lea said. His face screwed up in a thoughtful expression for a moment before a devilish grin spread across his face.

"Lea?" Riku asked suspiciously. "What are you -" He was cut off by a flaming Keyblade flying over his head as he ducked instinctively. He could feel the hot breeze caused by the attempted Fire Raid blow his silver locks back and he immediately rolled away from the spot where he had dropped to the ground, smiling to himself when he heard the Keyblade pass above it again.

Kairi, overall, was too stunned to react during the few seconds these events spontaneously took place. Right before Lea prepared to blast her with a Firaga, however, she gritted her teeth and leapt into the air, blasting downwards with an Aero to propel herself higher. She flew about six feet into the air and aimed at Lea with narrowed eyes. Right before she began to fall towards him, she shot a Blizzaga straight at the spiky red-head.

Lea had been tracking Kairi with his eyes as she flew through the air and the ice-cold Blizzaga she shot had been sudden, but not surprising. He leapt back while aiming to shoot a Triple Firaga at the same time, but he had lost sight of Riku in his haste to watch out for Kairi. The silver-haired teen blasted him in the chest with a huge fireball of darkness. He crashed into the ground as Lea had his breath knocked out of him. But before he could stagger back up, the cloaked man felt a strange prickle at the base of his chin and blinked.

"Nice try," Kairi said, unconsciously parroting one of Sora's phrases. Luckily for the ex-Nobody, she was barely pressing the edge of her Keyblade against the soft flesh above the neck. All of these events had taken place in the course of several seconds. "But you should probably wait until one of us is gone before attacking."

Surprisingly, Lea grinned back arrogantly. "But we haven't even reached the finale yet," he said in a fake worried voice. The reason why wasn't - or maybe never was - revealed until a couple of moments of awkward silence had passed. Then he cursed in annoyance. "Of all times, it has to fizz out on me now?"

Kairi was confused. "What are you talking about?"

"It's because you don't depend on the darkness anymore," Riku responded. He waved Kairi away. As soon as she moved to the side, he helped Lea up. "In fact, I'm surprised you've managed to keep doing it after so long."

_Oh,_ she thought. _It's the power of summoning Corridors._

Lea pretended to brush dust off of his cloak. "Heh. I guess I'm just that amazing."

"Either way, you need to go back to training," Riku said, crossing his arms. "If you really aren't being "challenged" enough, then talk to Master Yen Sid."

"Right, right," Lea said, sounding distracted as he began to walk off and waved behind himself absentmindedly. "See ya later."

There was a moment of silence until Kairi suggested, "Should we continue practicing?"

* * *

Not too long afterwards, the noise of clashing blades and physical combat sounded again, along with the crashes of blasting ice, the roars of white-hot flame, and the occasional explosions signaling the casting of Seeker Mine and other hair-triggered magic bombs.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Second chapter: finished. Feel free to complain/cheer about how I made Sora and Kairi look. Criticism is always welcome here! (Doesn't mean I accept flames but I hope I didn't make anyone that mad. u-u; ) And don't forget to vote in my poll: If both Xion and Naminé had romantic feelings for Roxas, who do you think he should return those feelings to? It's on the top of my profile.  
**

**Have fun with the English version of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix, guys. See ya!**

**~ Melody**


End file.
